I?m trying to find a little more info on an old Michigan 85a loader. Seems to be very little info out there on the web. I may purchase one for farm use for loading mulch, but has brake issues, has the Waukesha gas engine. Does anyone have a knowledge on the common brake problems these may have? The master cylinder has been rebuilt but may need new brake shoes or could possibly be some other issue. Not sure where to even find brake parts if anyone knows. Other than the brakes supposedly runs and drives good. Also wondering what the bucket capacity might be - thanks for any info-

My late uncle had several of those old Michigan loaders. He never had any with working brakes ! He just toggled back and forth between fwd and rev when loading trucks. They must have one heck of a good transmission ! Those old things will really lift a lot of weight. Every so often he had to replace a broken axle. A lot of stuff has to come off to do that and get to the brakes. Not sure where or if parts can be had anymore ? For some reason I think Clark bought them out but then now who handles Clark ?

Your machine was built between'62-'65 , power by Waukesha 135GK 127 H.P. Weight 22,300 2 C.Y. bucket. Volvo acquired Michigan and Euclid in the '90s and called it the VME Group. I don't know if Volvo still has them today, most likely they are orphans. The good news is that the brakes are all Wagner and Midland stuff, found at truck shops or companies that do brake relining. All the powertrain components can be purchased through rebuilders of heavy equipment trannies/differentials, or through a Clark-Hurth distributor. (there is a place called Bull Industries in Canada.) The balance of the machine will have to be obtained from salvage yards or fabricated. Although Waukesha is still in business, your parts availability is limited to N.O.S., as Waukesha no longer supports their vehicular engines.

Thanks for the info, it is helpful. If everything works ok besides the brakes, I?ll probably buy it, it?s pretty cheap.
I only need it for occasional farm use, loading mulch. The tractor I use now hardly has breaks as it is and it works out ok but my current tractors bucket is too small- takes forever to load things. I usually use a big 6x6 for a tire stop when loading the spreader anyway. I guess eventually I?ll try to find out what it takes to get some brakes going-

I had an old Michigan 75A loader. I believe the 75A was an older machine than what your looking at. It had the Waukesha motor and I was able to get parts since Oliver used the Waukesha in their tractors. Some things were specific but most engine parts can be crossed to the Oliver line.

I also never had brakes. I attempted to fix them but never got it done. Parts were about impossible. I even called a boneyard but they refused to sell any brake parts. I did find a rebuild kit for the master cylinder with some luck but by then I had learned to live without them. I have a Hough now and it doesn't have brakes either. I just use reverse and feather the throttle. This machine has a driveline parking brake but needs shoes. Maybe someday. These loaders are great machines that can handle lots of abuse.

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